Ukraine Seeks $16 Billion From Gazprom In Dispute

Ukraine is seeking more than $16 billion from Russian energy company Gazprom in its appeal to an arbitration court in Stockholm over a long-running gas-pricing dispute between Kyiv and Moscow.

Ukraine's state gas company Naftogaz and Gazprom are bound by a 10-year gas agreement signed in 2009, but Kyiv is challenging the price of Russian gas and billions of dollars in debts that Russia says it has accumulated.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, in a post on Facebook on May 1, said, "The transit contract is not fair for Ukraine and more than $10 billion should be paid to Naftogaz from Gazprom to compensate for losses."

He added, "the overall sum we are seeking from Gazprom in terms of the gas-supply contract and the transit contract is already over $16 million."